For a game plan going awry, things certainly turned out well for Ed West.

West (17-8 MMA, 3-3 BFC) on Thursday delivered a head-kick knockout against Josh Montoya (10-7 MMA, 0-0 BFC) at Bellator 91 at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho, N.M. And after he landed the head kick, he still managed to hit Montoya with a three-punch, on-the-button punch combination as he was falling stiff to the canvas.

In his 25th career fight, West finally had his first knockout win. When you go your first 24 without one, knocking someone stiff probably isn’t in the game plan to begin with.

“It couldn’t have gone better – and it actually wasn’t what I planned on,” West on Thursday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). “My plan was to stop the guy a little more – put him on the cage, take him down, pound him out, make use of the elbows. But it happened the way it happened.”

And the way it happened probably put Bellator’s bantamweight division on high alert for West once again. It’s been an up and down ride in Bellator for West, but clearly he is back up again.

The win over Montoya came after back-to back losses in Bellator tournaments. In October 2011, he lost a close split decision to Eduardo Dantas in the Season 5 semifinals. Dantas went on to win the title, and recently defended it against Marcos Galvao. In April 2012, West dropped a decision to Galvao in Season 6’s opening round.

West’s only other loss in the promotion – and only other loss since 2007, in fact – came in the Season 3 tournament finals against eventual champ Zach Makovsky.

“(The Montoya win) was my first KO stoppage, which is kinda funny because I have 25 professional fights. So I am pretty happy about it,” West said. “In the gym, I catch people all the time with my strikes and kicks. I’m not really surprised – I knew it was just a matter of time before I caught somebody.

“I’ve had standup wars with all those guys (I lost to), and had pretty proficient striking with all of them.”

So West has been in the big fights, and he’s come close to beating the current champ. Now he has his eyes on him again.

It’s a fight he believes he can win. He’s not going all spilled milk over the loss – he just knows how close he was, and thinks he presents a danger to him if they meet again some day.

“I can beat Eduardo Dantas,” West said. “I understand that I lost the fight. It was a really close fight with us – it was a split decision, so at least one judge thought I got it. It was his night that night. He’s one of the best bantamweights in the world, but I know I can beat that kid. He’s an absolute stud and I’m not in the slightest bit worried about fighting him again and I’m very, very confident if a rematch happens. Anybody who hasn’t seen that fight, go find Ed West and Eduardo Dantas, and whatever you think about (who won), you’ll think it was an awesome fight. It was an entertaining back-and-forth fight, and I look forward to fighting him again.”

But he’ll need to get into his fourth Bellator tournament – and win it this time – if he wants another crack at him.

“I’ve been unofficially assured a spot (in the next tournament),” West said. “(Bellator President) Bjorn Rebney at the press conference pretty much told me that I punched my ticket into the next tournament. As to when it’s going to be, probably the ‘Summer Series.'”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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